Water backup coming up through toilet flange on third floor

[reg]

I am having a problem where water is backing up through the 4" toilet pipe and then spilling onto the floor and the second floor ceiling.

The setup (see attachment) of the plumbing fixtures is as follows. There is a sink at the end of the line which connects via 4x4x2 tee into the toilet and the drain, then there is a sink drain and a shower drain. The fixtures on the second floor are not backing up so the clog must be somewhere between the second and third floor with water backing up at the lowest fixture (toilet). The water comes up from the toilet if either sink (before and after the toilet) or tub are run for a a little while. Also, the water in the toilet drain is not going down (we removed the toilet to snake the drain).

I called a drain cleaning company and the guy could not unclog the drain. He put in about 50' of snake and kept claiming that this is a bad grease clog and that the snake is going through the clog, but yet the water did not go down at all. Now, I thought that he was full of it, because if the snake went through the clog (as he claims) then at least some of the water would go down, but it doesn't. My thinking is that the snake took a wrong turn somewhere. While the guy he was with tried to claim that the pitch of the pipes was wrong. That could not be true, because I there was never any backup problems since I owned the house, which is at least 7 years. To me it sounds like the guy who can't dance blaming the floor for being crooked.

My thinking is that the snake took the wrong turn somewhere. He spent about 30 minutes and gave up. Of course he blamed the clog and not himself.

Any advice on how to proceed would be appreciated.

 

[Geofd]

cant say if he is wrong or right …...most drain clears have an assortment of heads some made for cutting grease...he is right.....the snake will go right thtru the grease and close right up.....try pulling the toilet boiling remove the water in the drain....boil some water and keep pouring it down the drain...the hot water will cut the grease

 

[reg]

When the head of the snake was pulled out there was no grease on it and if he thought it was grease why didn't he use the grease cutting head. Now that I googled it, I see that he used the sharktooth cutter head.

 

[Geofd]

When the head of the snake was pulled out there was no grease on it and if he thought it was grease why didn't he use the grease cutting head. Now that I googled it, I see that he used the sharktooth cutter head.

usually when you pull the snake out it really doesn't look like grease....looks like black slime....we use a head that looks like a claw or half claw it scrapes the sides of the pipe

 

[reg]

Well I was wrong. The pipe is back pitched. The clog is actually clear as I was able to run water in the sinks and even in the toilet drain. However, the toilet drain pipe has water about 4 inches below the rim.

 

[reg]

Well I was wrong. The pipe is back pitched. The clog is actually clear as I was able to run water in the sinks and even in the toilet drain. However, the toilet drain pipe has water about 4 inches below the rim.

 

[Geofd]

that still doesn't seem right.....I have seen some back pitched pipes they do hold a little water....when you reset the toilet does it flush?????do you have access from below???

 

[Geofd]

that still doesn't seem right.....I have seen some back pitched pipes they do hold a little water....when you reset the toilet does it flush?????do you have access from below???

another thing you can try is you can hook up a garden hose to the shower arm(take the shower head off)there is a rubber or canvas bag or balloon that threads onto the hose
it pressurizes the water going thru the balloon to break up a stoppage....just becareful the water will back up out of the drain if it cant break thru